ROCHESTER — The Rochester School Board’s Policy Committee met Thursday night and discussed an updating of their current truancy policy, to clarify further the Rochester Police Department’s new stance it may fine parents or guardians for their children’s truant behavior.

In late November, the Rochester police said they will issue court summonses to families with children who have been absent more than 15 days since the start of the school year. Parents will be summonsed for violation-level offenses to Rochester Circuit Court sometime early next year, where they will have the option of paying a large monetary fine or opting into the newly designed “diversion program,” with educational classes on the consequences of being truant.

Superintendent Michael Hopkins noted some children so far this school year have missed 35 days of school, but since the announcement of the diversion program, and the potential for fines of up to $1,000, he has seen some students change their behavior, especially at Spaulding High School.

Board members discussed a revision to policy JED — student absences and policy — but moved to table the discussion until the next meeting on Jan. 3, to allow for more members to weigh in, given two members were absent for the evening’s meeting.

Member Dan Harkinson offered a clarification of the parent notification process, where parents are to be notified when a student is excessively truant. If the problem persists, the Assistant Superintendent may refer their situation to the Rochester police. He noted the policy should read parents will be contacted after four absences, or eight “half day” absences.

In the policy reviewed Thursday, which still leaves room for revision in a second reading in January, an excused absence is qualified as being due to “illness, death in the student’s immediate family, participation in school activities, or other approved reason that has been verified with a written note from a physician or other qualified health professional who is treating the student, from a school official or a parent.” Previously board members noted students with a note from parents may not qualify as an excuse beyond a certain point.

At the last regular school board meeting, where a parent expressed her concerns in public comment, representatives from the Police Department said they will only seek to fine parents “who don’t care.”

Additionally, in the recommended policy, at the middle school and elementary level, a school nurse may also excuse a student if he is sick, and recommend he stay home for a longer period of time. Any other absence, the policy reads, is considered an instance of truancy, unless designated in a student’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP).

An added paragraph to the policy states when a student is absent for four days of school, a “school team” will determine if an “intervention plan needs to be developed.”